Man did I get that wrong!

[Gnu Bee Flyer]

A bunch of us all had our boats tied up along the lake-shore this weekend. I was first one up at the crack of dawn to head for my boat when I spotted two young fellows wading the shoreline near my boat. I hustled over as fast as I could to see what was up. I was thinking what the heck are they doing wading right next to my boat this early in the am. Theft I supposed because after all these guys were teenagers.

Imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered that they each had a bundle of empty garbage bags with them and were cleaning up the mess. They had become angry with all the trash that others had left behind near the campsites and the lakeshore so they decided to do something about it.

Man I just had to go fishing, My wife had taken the day off and we have so looked forward to this morning cause tomorrow she has to go back to work. We had looked forward to this day of fish for a very long time.

I promised them I would help after the morning rise was over.
I went out and caught a few fish till my nagging conscience got the better of me. Finally my little parsnip flower said "For gods sake go help them your driving me nuts and I don't need you to fish anyway. By the time I caught up to them 1/2 way round the lake there were at least 10 other people helping them. I grabbed a bag and started off, shortly followed by She Who lights up the sky. The lot of us left the shore and campgrounds spotless. The boys had picked up volunteer recruits as they went along. The response surprised even them.

I sure feel more than a little sheepish for profiling them as thieves without the slightest shred of evidence.

This weekend is the three day BC day long weekend and they decided to do something meaningful for their Province.

As it is a flyfish only lake I asked them about their fishing. Turns out they are gnubees at fly fishing so I donated a dozen flies each that really work well in that lake. Showed them the best spots , loaned them my boat "SeaBarf" and gave them a few tips so they were able to have good success. What goes around comes around.

ME? I'm going to try not to be so ready to pre-judge people so readily.

[JohnScott]

GBF -

Really enjoyed your tale - it must be true because .... whatever happened to that, by the way ??

Great to see the young people in your neck of the woods leading the way for a volunteer effort like this. Bodes well for the future of that particular fishery, if not the area generally.

Thanks.

John

[Z]

Gnu,
You loaned them the "seabarf"? my goodness, some fine young folks and you set them up with the ugliest boat known to mankind.
Kudos to these fine friends to the north!

Z

[okieflyfisheman]

Gnu

Great story. In a world that so readily reports the negative I always find a story like this refreshing. There are many good people in the world who do many good deeds and make many good things happen. We just don't hear enough about them. Thanks for the report - it will make my whole day better.

[FishnDave]

Don't feel bad about the "profiling". I think most people's reaction would be to defend their property first. At least you didn't try to "run them off" before finding out what was up!

Sometimes, all it takes is for SOMEBODY to get the ball rolling. I think its GREAT those young adults took the initiative, and even more happy to hear of others (including yourself) joining in on the clean-up effort!

It's an awesome experience for EVERYONE who gets involved!